The team behind the building project formerly known as the Oregon Sustainability Center is getting its ducks in a row to take its new scaled-back, ultra-green building plan — one that now features a private company tenant commitment — to the Portland City Council for a vote before the end of October.

With that agreement in hand the team behind the project — representatives from Mayor Sam Adams office, the Portland Development Commission and companies and nonprofits involved in the building's planning — is working hard to:

Sign on other tenants.

Work with the city's office of management and finance to pencil out the project's new numbers and figure the city bonds needed to finance it.

Refine the agreement between the PDC and city regarding the land — at Southwest Montgomery St. between Fourth and Fifth Avenues — on which the building will be built.

Once those parts of the plan are complete, the team will again bring the plan to the city council for a vote.

"I would like to get this done before the end of October," said Peter Parisot, economic development director in Mayor Sam Adams office.

He added that he's noted a general sense of support from city commissioners, but that he's not had any specific conversations about it.

Advocates in Portland have been working on the sustainability center concept since 2007. At one time it was an ambitious project aiming to become the first high-rise built to the rigorous green requirements of the Living Building Challenge — including net-zero energy and water use, locally sourced and nontoxic building materials among other features — meant to solidify Portland's leadership in green building.

Now the team is leaving the Oregon Sustainability Center moniker in the dust, calling it The Innovation Center — at least for now.

At five or six stories and about 100,000 square feet, the new building plan will not be an official high-rise but will still be about twice the size of Seattle's Bullitt Center Living Building project.

"We'll still have bragging rights," said Omid Nabipoor, president of Interface.

What the building will look like won't be determined until after a Portland City Council vote would give the project a green light.

But without the Oregon University System involved — earlier this year the Legislature shot down a plan to use OUS bonds to help finance the project — an auditorium-style classroom has been removed from the building's plan. The team still hopes to have Portland State University involved — they envision the project as a living green building lab that will sit on the eastern edge of the PSU campus.

"They have an ongoing need for cost-effective offices and class space," said Lisa Abuaf, the PDC's point person on the project. "They're interested."

Cost-effective is the watchword with the rebooted building project, which will offer lease rates below Class A — something the earlier iterations of the project weren't able to achieve.